Monday, August 12, 2013.
Copeland's Revisited.
Mary Ann didn't want to go to dinner after the radio show ended, by Mary Leigh did. She's a little bored this week. Her job at the art center has her off for three days. So she's hungry, which doesn't really help the restaurant choice. I just have to figure out what she might like, or I will go mad running choices by her.
I know she likes Copeland's, a restaurant to which we rarely go. It's been so long that the one in Covington slipped a renovation past us. In the largest dining room, they pulled out the ranks of booths that used to fill the center of the room, and replaced them with four-top tables. This probably took a few seats out of the space (nothing beats booths for jamming the greatest number of people into a unit space, as anyone who works in a cubicle will attest).
One course for my daughter (a Penthouse salad, with fried chicken), and a martini, a Cobb salad without the chicken, and blackened redfish with a side of red beans (isn't Monday!) for me.
The server was unusually bright and personable. I clown around with servers (particularly when Mary Leigh is there; what is a daddy for if not to make children laugh?). But sometimes they don't get the jokes. This one did, and even kept the banter going, without hanging around tableside.
She was the front waiter, the one with the customer interface. The actual food was brought out by different, more taciturn staffers. So the usual problems ensued. I was not a third of the way into the first course when the main arrived. And instead of red beans, it had green beans. (White beans I would have accepted, but. . .).
The real waitress came by and joked her way out of this slipup. Which is good enough for me.
Copeland's seems to be on a slight upslope lately. I'm happy that the menus were nice and new (they seemed always to have beat-up copies for a long time). I like this new table arrangement. And you don't have to scour the menu to find dishes that aren't too rich, too salty, or too cheesy. (Grated cheese all over a salad! Who thought of this? Bad idea.)
Mary Leigh doesn't usually eat dessert. But she's been intrigued by cheesecake lately, and has been making one every couple of weeks. She said she likes Copeland's version. The chain staked out cheesecake as a specialty a few years ago. In my opinion, it's terrible. Way too sweet, awful mouthfeel, other issues. ML ordered the turtle cheesecake anyway. I think that's my least favorite.
But I did have dessert. Copeland's makes bananas Foster. Not tableside, of course. To make up for that lack (and no great loss), they make an excellent version of the famous dessert, and serve it in a size big enough for more than two people. I left two-thirds of it, but what I got down was the best part of this meal.
ML is driving tonight. Hence the martini. First I've had in awhile. Really enjoyed it. One is the right number.
Copeland's. Covington: 680 N US 190 (Causeway Blvd). 985-809-9659.
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